Daniel Radcliffe will forever be haunted by the ghost of Harry Potter, regardless of what he goes on to accomplish. On the plus side, his first major role always being guaranteed to rank as his most memorable and iconic has given him the freedom to do whatever the hell he wants, and that usually involves choosing roles you’d never except.
A compelling piece of evidence is unfolding right now, with Radcliffe currently busy shooting WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story, an unconventional biopic where he’ll play Weird Al opposite Evan Rachel Wood’s Madonna and Rainn Wilson’s Dr. Demento.
The 32 year-old has played drug smugglers, undercover FBI agents, farting corpses, and literal demons, so it wasn’t all that much of a surprise when he was announced to be headlining writer/director Jason Lei Howden’s gonzo action comedy Guns Akimbo, where he ended up spending half of the running time with a pair of pistols bolted onto his hands.
Radcliffe’s Miles is a mild-mannered video game developer who gets more than he bargained for when he’s coerced into the insane online game Skizm, which pits competitors against each other in a fight to the death. He wants nothing to do with it, but as he continues to make surprising progress, Samara Weaving’s legendary Nix ends up literally gunning for him.
Guns Akimbo wasn’t the subject of widespread acclaim, nor did it turn a profit after becoming one of the first movies to suffer from the effects of the pandemic. However, the fact that it’s absolutely, positively, and deliriously batsh*t insane has seen it find instant life as an enduring cult favorite. It’s at it again this weekend, too, with FlixPatrol revealing the deranged delight to be one of Amazon’s most-watched titles at the time of writing.